FIG 5.
Cytokine profiling of mice infected with S. aureus. C57BL/6 mice (n = 5) were infected by intravenous injection with 5 × 107 CFU of S. aureus USA300 or its ΔessE variant or were mock infected (PBS). Blood was collected at 12 h postinfection, and serum cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data were averaged, and standard errors of the means were calculated and analyzed for significant differences with one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni's multiple-comparison test. The statistical analysis is shown only for the groups that exhibited a significant difference between the wild-type (WT) and ΔessE strain data sets (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.01).